“DIGITAL INDIA” rekindles hopes of “ITS officers” -A Special Report

Special Report

New Delhi

“Digital India” rekindles hopes of ITS officers

The recently announced “Digital India” has rekindled dwindling hopes of Indian Telecommunication Service (ITS) officers of the Department of Telecom (DoT). The fulfillment of vision of the Central Government for revolution in Information & Communications sector, as envisaged in “Digital India”, lies largely on the shoulders of these officers. These ITS officers are going to play a crucial role in realizing the dream of the Government.

Despite having served for very long years in the department, these officers have been made to impatiently wait for their long overdue promotions. It is learnt that for this and a number of other reasons, there is a growing disenchantment amongst these officers since last many years. The officers believe that despite having been passed out from top institutions of the country, having superior qualifications and having been selected through a grinding process of UPSC before joining the department, they have been totally ignored by the Government as far as fulfillment of their legitimate career aspirations are concerned.

As per A. S. Meena, President ITS Association, these officers are the back bone of the Information & Communications sector of the country. These officers are going to play a vital role in realizing the vision behind “Digital India”. It is rather unfortunate that at this critical juncture when the Government is looking towards them with high expectations, their morale is at its nadir. He further informs that these officers are not getting their promotions since last many years.

As per ITS Recruitment Rules which is the guide book for their career mobility, the qualifying service for being promoted to Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) & Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) is 17 & 25 years respectively. As against these norms, ITS officers having completed 25 years of service are still waiting for their promotion to SAG. The tragedy is that promotion of a full single batch of officers to SAG is still incomplete since last seven years. Further, officers having 34 years of service are still languishing in SAG despite being eminently qualified to move into HAG.

Mr Meena has demanded promotion of ITS officers at par with other Central Group ‘A’ officers while also keeping their historical promotional aspects in mind. Talking of other pressing issues, he further states that DoT is not paying full allowances (Head quarter allowance) to a section of ITS officers posted in the department. The ITS officers deputed in BSNL are having their own set of pressing issues, the prominent being forced reporting of seniors officers to their erstwhile junior colleagues. All this is negatively affecting the morale of these officers.

Mr Meena has an advice to give to the Government that to implement “Digital India” in its most effective form, there is an urgent need to constitute an all India Information & Communications Technology (ICT) Service. It will not only catalyze uniform & rapid growth of ICT in all states & parts of India, but also strengthen the federal structure of the Indian union.

Report Source:Letter to editor